Valve structure



H. R. MINOR VALVE STRUCTURE Jan. l, 1935.

2 Sheets-Sheet l Filed Nov. 2, 1929 Jan. l, I H. R. MINOR 1,986,592

VALVE STRUCTURE @2M/126 www wl, bgd? Patented Jan. 4l, 1935 UNITED STATES PATENT oFFicE Henry R.

of New York Application November z. 1929, serial No. 404,250'

, z claims.

in nre extinguishing systems, especially those of the type employing carbon dioxide gas as the extinguishing agency.

Another object of this invention is the production of a special form of valve which in opera- 0 tive relation with the remainder of the apparatus is adapted to maintain carbon dioxide gas sealed within the container, said valve being so constructed that the seal may be broken to permit the escapeu of gas under predetermined conditions.

A stili furtherobject of this invention involves a valve of the above construction which is adapted to be mounted in a particular position and adapted to be sealed in that position by inspectors of fire extinguishing apparatus to prevent un authorized operation.

Other objects of 4this invention involve the construction of apparatus of the above type which is relatively simple and easy to manufacture. rugged and eilcient in operation, and of the type which permits easy repair thereto.

These and other objects, as will be apparent from the following disclosure,V are secured by means of this invention.

This invention resides substantially in the combination, construction, arrangement, and relative location of parts, which are to be described below.

Referring to the drawings- Figure 1 is a side elevational view of the combination of elements comprising this invention;

Fig. 2 is an end elevational view of the same structure; I

' Fig. 3 is a longitudinal cross sectional view through the valve. showing the seal puncturing means; y

Fig. l4 is a cross sectional view taken on the line 4 4 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is a plan and sectional view of the sealing disc showing its appearance after it has been punctured; and

Fig. 6 is a diagrammatic view showing a general combination fo re extinguishing purposes employing the valve structure of this invention.

It is now becoming common practice to extenslvely use carbon dioxide gas for the purpose of extinguishing ilres. The apparent advantages of the use of such a gas are its efficiency as a iire extinguishing medium and the fact that it does not cause destruction as is the case when water is used to extinguish a fire. When carbon dioxide gas is used as a fire extinguishingy medium it is stored in heavy steel cylinders under tremendous pressure so as to cause it to liquefy at ordinary temperatures. When the liquid carbon dioxide is freed into the atmosphere it acts to extinguish the nre by reason of the fact that some of it is in the Minor, Ossining, N. Y., miglior to Walter Kidde & Company, Inc.;

a corporation form of carbon dioxide gas and some in the form of exceedingly cold carbon dioxide snow.

It has been found from actual installations that one diillculty experiencedwith such a sys tem is that the gas gradually leaks out from theV cylinders and as a result the value oi.' the system is considerably decreased by reason of the depletion of gas. The purpose of this invention is to provide a positive seal for preventing the undesired escape of gas from the storage cylinders and yet permit the ready release of the gas therefrom when it is desired for. nre extinguishing purposes. It may be pointed out here that, although the invention is described in connection with a fire extinguishing system, it oi course, as is apparent, has many other uses both with gas and liquids. For a clearer understanding of the invention reference is now made to the drawings in which there is shown at 1 a specially constructed valve fully opened to fully closed position upon a half 4 turn of the valve stem. This valve has been disclosed and claimed in considerable detail in my copending application Serial No. 407,047, filed Nov. 14. 1928. The valve is provided with a threaded hollow extension 2 through which the gas may be delivered from the storage tank through the hollow threaded extension 3 by means of which the valve is attached to the tank. The movement of gas through kthe valve is controlled by the valve stem to which is attached the operating hand wheel 7.

A collar 4 is provided and attached to the upper portion of the body of valve 1 and provided with pierced lugs 5. When the valve is completely and tightly closed the wire locking member 8 may be inserted through holes in the hand wheel '7 and the holes in the lugs 5 to lock the valve closed. The collar 4 is circumferentially adjusted to permit the alignment of the holes in lugs 5 with the holes in the hand wheel 7 when the valve is tightly closed. All this has been disclosed in detail in the above noted copending application and is only referred to here for a clearer understanding of the general combination disclosed.

The valve 1 is provided withra. union nut 9 by means of which the threaded hollow extension 22 on valve body 10 is attached to valve 1. The valve body 10 is providedl with a hollow threaded extension l1. Valve body 10 is also provided with a cylindrical extension 25 upon which is mounted -the circular collar 12 having formed thereon the integral arm 13. The collar l2 is circumferentially adjustable on the cylindrical extension 425 and may be aligned in any desired position by means of the set screw 14. A lever 15 is pivotally supported on the arm 13 and may be locked in one extreme of its position by means of wires 16 able seal 17. 'This seal may be applied by a re inspector after it has been approved. 'Ihe wire 16 may, for instance, be fusible so as to melt upon the development of abnormal temperature conditions or may be made of light construction so that when pressure is applied to the arm 15 it will break or part'atthe seal.

The valve stem is shown at 18 provided with a cap 19 which is slotted at the end, as shown in Fig. 3. The valve stem 18 is extended from the casing by means of a spring 20. It is noted that the arm 15 engages in the slot in the end of the cap 19. A packing gland nut is shown at 21 to prevent the leakage of gas around the valve stem. As shown more clearly in Fig. 3 the union nut engages the stem 22 on valve 10 and stem 23 on valve 1. The nut 9 is internally constructed so as to hold between the end of extension 23 and an annular wall therein a thin metal disc 24.` This metal disc is preferably made of phosphor bronze because it has been found that once it is punctured under the high pressure of gas used it will easily tear to fully open the passage and yet the displaced portion will not tear away and clog the passage. Also the cutting means, which is shown at 26, more easily punctures a phosphor bronze disc.v The valve stem 18 is shown having a cut away portion to provide a semi-circular extension 26 which has an inclined edge 27 to form a point for piercing the disc 242 In use the structure is assembled as shown in Fig. 1 and applied to the gas tank by means of a threaded extension 3.- The tank may be filled if desired by attaching a hose to the threaded extension 2. Passage 40 in the valve body of valve 1 v(Fig. 3) communicates directly with the passage in threaded extension 3 which is open to the gas in the tank. Passage 40 is sealed by the disc v24.

The fire extinguishing equipment which may be a spray nozzle, sprinkler nozzle, or any other distributing means, is connected through a ilexible hose to the threaded extension 11. In the present contemplated use of the device it is desired to have the arm 15 extending downward vertically, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. To secure this result it is only necessary to loosen the nut 14 and rotate collar 12 to the desired position. By means of this adjustment the handle 15 may extend downwardly regardless of the position in which the valve body is nally secured. It is immaterial in which direction extension 11 projects in view of the fact that a flexible hose is ordinarily connected thereto. With the handle open the passage, and in view of the type of disc used the cut tab is not detached to clog the passage.

The arrangement of Fig. 6 shows diagrammatically one form of system employingvthe valve structure 'of this invention. A series of rooms forming a structure is shown at 30. A tank or other suitable container 31 is used for the purposes of storing the carbon dioxide-gas under vin which the re occurs.

high pressure. This tank is connected by means of a pipe 32 through control valve 33 to a general distributing pipe 34 which extends to each of the rooms 30. The valve 33 is of any suitable construction for confining the gas to the tank 31 for any desired purpose. A series of branch connections 36 extend from the pipe 34 and are connected thereto by means of the T 35. Each branch pipe 36 is controlled by means of the valve structure of this invention which has been indicated in the drawings by the reference numeral 38 and the legend Valve Structure of Fig. 3. The branch pipes 36 are provided with a series of outlet holes to permit the escape of gas into the room. As disclosed above, the lever may be operated in any suitable manner to cause it to puncture the disc 24. Thus should re break out in any one of the rooms 30 the valve structure, which is indicated at 38, will be operated to permit the flow of gas from tank 31 to the branch pipe 36 and thence through the holes thereof into the room to extinguish the fire. By this simple arrangement a re extinguishing apparatus is only operated in the particular room Carbon dioxide gas of a highly emcient fire extinguisher will quickly smother a fire and prevent its spread.

I am, of course, aware that many changes in the details of construction and relative arrangement of parts will readily occur to those skilled in this art and I do not, therefore, desire to be strictly limited to the illustrations in the drawings which have been given to set forth the principles of this invention, but rather to the scope of the invention as it is defined in the appended claims.

What I seek to secure by United States Letters Patent is:

1. In a valve structure of the type described,

the combination comprising a valve body having` a longitudinal passage therethrough and a second passage extending therefrom to the exterior of the valve body, a rod slidable in one of said passages, a thin disc for sealing one end of the passage in which said rod slides, means on said rod for puncturing said disc, a circumferentially adjustable collar supported on the valve body having an integral arm, a lever pivoted on said arm,

a slotted thimble attached to said rod adaptedto be engaged by said lever in the slot whereby the disc is punctured when pressure is applied to the lever, said construction permitting the lever to lie in a vertical plane regardless of the position of the valve body, means for maintaining the rod and lever in retracted position, and means for sealing the structure in that position.

2. In a valve structure of the type described, the combination comprising a valve body having a longitudinal passage therethrough and a second passage extending therefrom to the exterior of the valve body, a rod slidable in one of said passages, a thin disc for sealing o ne end of the kbody, means for maintaining the rod and lever in retracted position, and means for sealing the structure in that position.

HENRY R. MINOR. 

